National Treasure fought off Blazing Sevens in the final strides to win the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, taking trainer Bob Baffert from grief to glory hours after one of his horses was euthanized.
Baffert claimed his eighth Preakness win, breaking a tie with 19th-century trainer Robert Wyndham Walden for most by a trainer, but that seemed far from his mind as he contemplated the day’s earlier grim events in the 148th running of the middle jewel in US flat racing’s Triple Crown.
“We’ve been totally wiped out after that horse got hurt,” Baffert said of his team, that still had to prepare National Treasure for the 1 1/16-mile Preakness. “All the blessings that I have and all the success that I have in other races, not having won this one was definitely missing,” Velazquez said.
Baffert, who trained the most recent Triple Crown winner, Justify, in 2018, saddled his first Triple Crown race runner since 2021. The Kentucky Derby was clouded by a spate of deaths at Churchill Downs that included two on Derby day and would eventually total eight in less than three weeks.
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